Recapish

The
Binghamton Rumble Ponies overcame an early deficit and departure from their
starter to take the series finale with Harrisburg Monday night. After losing
the opener, the Ponies won three straight against Harrisburg over the past two
days to earn a series win. Ponies starter Corey Oswalt needed 41 pitches as he
battled through a long 2nd, so he had to leave early, but the Ponies
pen more than picked up the slack. Lefty Kelly Secrest allowed the Senators to
extend their lead to 4-2 in the 3rd, but then bounced back for two
scoreless innings after that. Then Tim Peterson and Cory Burns took care of the
rest, with each reliever tossing two scoreless innings as the Ponies battled
back for a win. L.J. Mazzilli stayed hot at the plate, finishing with his
second straight three-hit game – he’s up to a .897 OPS over his last dozen
games (6/16-7/3).

Although
Oswalt struggled early, the Ponies were actually ahead 2-0 after the 1st
inning. Mazzilli and Kevin Kaczmarski singled for Binghamton in the 1st
and then Tomas Nido doubled them both home for the games first runs.

Mazzilli

Kacz

Nido

The
Senators didn’t exactly smack Oswalt around in the 2nd – they scored
the three runs on four singles, a walk and a wild pitch – but they made him
work for 41 pitches. I don’t know if the policy still holds, and I’ve seen
exceptions with veterans over the years, but I was once told the Mets have a
strict policy of taking a pitcher out if he reaches 40+ pitches in a frame.
Even if the policy isn’t official anymore, it made sense to be cautious with
Oswalt, as he’s moved up the depth charts a lot this year, plus he’s already
dealt with minor injury problems this year.

Champ in CF

Dale
Burdick started the Bingo half of the 2nd with a single, but the
Ponies wouldn’t get any runs back until the 3rd.

Kevin
Kaczmarski led off the 3rd with a walk, went to second on a Matt
Oberste single, to third on a David Thompson fly out, and then came around to
score on a Nido sac fly.

Mazzili’s
next two hits were isolated for Binghamton: he singled with two outs in the 4th
and doubled with two outs in the 6th.

The
Ponies charged ahead in the 7th, when Brady Dragmire came out of the
Harrisburg pen for starter John Simms. Thompson quickly tied the game with an
RBI double to bring home Matt Oberste from first (he had reached on an E6). Thompson
came around to score the go-ahead run on a Gustavo Nunez single, and then Tyler
Moore followed with an RBI double to make it a 6-4 game.

I’d like to take this moment to
remind y’all that Thompson has been killing it since the end of April, hitting
.295/.377/.486 over 57 G, with 17 2B, 6 HR, 5 stolen bases, and a 17 K%: 10.4
BB% ratio during that time. Also, after two straight seasons with the
Savannah/Columbia franchise in A-ball, Moore – the Mets 6th round
pick in 2014 – has skipped the FSL (for now) and recently began his season as
an extra on the Bingo roster.

Thompson

Moore

With
the Ponies suddenly ahead after seven, Bingo Manager Luis Rojas went to Cory
Burns for the final two frames and he retired all six batters he faced,
striking out three Senators along the way. Oberste added an 8th inning
single for Binghamton, but they left a potential insurance run at third in the
frame.

Looking
ahead, the Ponies head to Altoona for a three-game series with the Curve.
Altoona has solid coverage, which is very nice, because Marcos Molina and Chris
Flexen will start the first two games.